1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to stapling instruments and, in various embodiments, to a surgical cutting and stapling instrument for producing one or more rows of staples.
2. Background of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been an increasing tendency for surgeons to use stapling instruments to suture body tissues such as a lung, an esophagus, a stomach, a duodenum and/or other organs in the intestinal tract. The use of an appropriate stapling instrument in many instances may perform a better job in less time and simplify previously difficult surgical procedures such as gastrointestinal anastomoses. Previous linear two and four row cutting staplers comprised cartridge-less instruments into which staples were individually hand-loaded. Other previous devices have included a presterilized disposable staple loading unit and a cutting member which could be utilized for dividing the tissue and forming the rows of staples simultaneously. An example of such a surgical stapler is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,591, entitled INSTRUMENT FOR PLACING LATERAL GASTROINTESTINAL ANASTOMOSES, which issued on Mar. 10, 1970, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
A stapling instrument can include a pair of cooperating elongate jaw members, wherein each jaw member can be adapted to be inserted into an internal, tubular body organ to be anastomosed. In various embodiments, one of the jaw members can support a staple cartridge with at least two laterally spaced rows of staples, and the other jaw member can support an anvil with staple-forming pockets aligned with the rows of staples in the staple cartridge. Generally, the stapling instrument can further include a pusher bar and knife blade assembly which is slidable relative to the jaw members to sequentially eject staples from the staple cartridge via camming surfaces on the pusher bar. In at least one embodiment, the camming surfaces can be configured to activate a plurality of staple drivers carried by the cartridge and associated with the individual staples to push the staples against the anvil and form laterally spaced rows of deformed staples in the tissue gripped between the jaw members. In typical stapling instruments, however, the anvil is unmovable relative to the staple cartridge once the jaw members have been assembled together and the formed height of the staples cannot be adjusted. In at least one embodiment, the knife blade can trail the pusher bar and cut the tissue along a line between the staple rows. However, the knife blade and pusher bar generally comprise an assembly such that both the pusher bar(s) and knife blade are simultaneously actuated. Examples of such stapling instruments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,695, entitled SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, which issued on Feb. 7, 1984, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Other examples of linear staples and staple cartridges are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/725,993, filed, Mar. 17, 2010, entitled STAPLE CARTRIDGE, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
During some surgical procedures, it is not necessary to cut tissue during the stapling process. In many existing linear stapling devices, the staple are fired as the cutting member is driven through the tissue. Accordingly, a need exists for a linear cutting and stapling device that has a selectively disengageable cutting member so that the surgeon may use the device to install staples without cutting tissue, yet have the ability to cut tissue should the need arise.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate some of the shortcomings present in the field of the invention at the time, and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.